Combined needle-bar and thread-guide for sewing-machines.



H. c. MOULTONQ COMBINED NEEDLE BAR AND THREAD GUIDE FOR SEWING MACHINES. APPLICATION FILED NOV. I5 I912.

1, 167,834. Patenteddan. 11, 1916.

1091954766 635: zv v f ,zezrz aaaa n flaw/My 35H A M1 m COLUMBIA PLANOORAPH (IO-,WASHINGTON, D..c.

WTTED STATES PATENT @FFTQE.

HARLEY C. MOULTON', OF DORCHESTEB, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO ARBETTER FELLING MACHINE COMPANY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

COMBINED NEEDLE-BAR AND THREAD-GUIDE FOR SEWING-MACHINES.

Application filed November 15, 1912.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARLEY (l MOULTON, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Dorchester, county of Suffolk, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Combined Needle-Bars and Thread- Guides for Sewing-Machines, of which the following description, in connection with .the accompanying drawing, is a specification, like characters on the drawing representing like parts.

This invention relates more particularly to machines for making blind stitches in felling, padding and other similar sewing work in the manufacture of clothing, and especially in machines of that general type wherein a curved, eye-pointed needle is mounted in an oscillating needlebar, the needle being grooved on its convex side from the eye substantially to the shank thereof. A sewing machine of this type is shown in the United States patents to Arbetter No. 830,699 dated September 11,1906, and No. 937 ,27 3 dated October 19, 1909, and therein the thread is led from the source of supply and suitable take-up mechanism to an eye in a projecting guide fixed on the split end of the needle bar, thence through .a

band or collar fixed on the lower end of the needle shank to the groove in the needle leading to the eye, as shownin the later one of the said patents. The threading of the needle thus necessitates the passing of the end of the thread through the guide-eyeon the needle bar, and then passing it through the opening in the band or collar before the thread can be inserted in the needle eye, an operation consuming an undesirable length of time, while the provision of the band on the needle adds materially to the expense of construction. The projecting guide-eye on the needle bar is objectionable, for if the operator is careless in handling the work when the machine is in operation the hands may be nicked or cut by the rapidly moving guide-eye. My present invention has for its object the production of a novel, simple and efficient combined needle bar and thread guide, so constructed and arranged that the band or collar on the needle is eliminated, and likewise the objectionable guide-eye on the needle bar.

In-carrying out my invention I have, in the present embodiment thereof, provided Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 11, rare.

Serial No. 731,543. the shank-engaging portion of the needle bar with a bifurcated prolongation or nose which receives the thread and guides it to the point on the needle at which the guide band has been located heretofore, thus obviating the band, and at the same time I provide an increased clamping surface to engage the needle shank. So, too, I have provided the needle bar with a thread guiding device above the needle shank and so constructed that by a simple and rapid circular movement of the fingers the operator places the thread in complete control of such device, which latter is so arranged as to be wholly contained within the contour of the adjacent portion of the needle bar.

The various novel features of my invention will be fully described in the subjoined specification and particularly pointed out in the following claims.

Figure 1 is a front View of a portion of the head of a sewing machine of the type referred to, with a combined needle bar and thread guide embodying one practical form of my invention, the needle being shown mounted in the bar and completely threaded; Fig. 2 is an outer end elevation of the needle bar and needle, viewed from the right, Fig. 1, but detached from the adjacent mechanism; Fig. 3 is a side elevation and partial section on the line 33, Fig. 2, of the parts shown therein; Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional detail taken through the outer end of the needle bar on the line H,

Fig. 1, looking toward the left.

Referring to Fig. lthe head or forward. end'A of the overhanging arm of the sewing machine, the vertical rock-shaft 13 mounted in the lower portion of the head 7 and provided with a-bearing for the transverse needle-carrying rock shaft 13 having attached toone end the rocker-arm B*, the

needle-operating rod B jointed thereto,

and the work-support E, may be and are all substantially as in the Arbetter Patent No. 937,273. So, too, the eye-appointed, curved needle a having the straight shank a and the thread groove a" in its convex side, is the same as shown in said patent except that it has no band or collar thereon. v In the present embodiment of my invention the oscillating or rocking needle bar 1 has at its inner end a transverse hub 2 to embrace the rock-shaft B7, and said hub carries a suitable set-screw 3, Fig. 3, to secure the needle bar firmly on the rock-shaft, and the outer end of the needle bar is enlarged to form a head 4 provided with a depending prolongation or nose 5. The head and nose are bifurcated or slotted at 6, the slot extending completely through the head and nose, as shown clearly in Fig. 3, the separated sides or cheeks forming a clamp for the needle shank a, which is seated in elongated sockets 7, see dotted lines Fig. .4, formed by drilling the nose and head, a clamp screw 8 rotatable in one of the sides of the head and in threaded engagement with the other side drawing the sides together to securely clamp the needle in its operative position. 7

Above the upper end of the needle shank are two pins 9, .10, both fixedly mounted in one of the sides or cheeks of the head and extending transversely across the slot 6 into holes in the opposite cheek, but the free end of the pin 10 enters an outwardly flared hole 11 in the adjacent cheek, having an inlet .slot 12 cut right through the cheek and in clined downwardly and outwardly, as shown in Fig. 1.

As shown in Fig. 3 the pin 9 is set above the needle shank practically in a line with its outer edge, while the pin 10 is set farther forward toward the front of the head 4, such setting of the pins providing a guide for the thread 13 as it passes from the leader or eye 14., Fig. 1.

The thread is guided along the continuous, open passage formed by the front portion of the slot 6 between the sides of the head and the nose 5 to a point preferably below the upper end of the groove (0 in the needle, as herein shown, the tip of the nose occupying the same position with relation to the needle as is occupied by the band or collar shown in the patents hereinbefore referred to, and effectually guiding the thread into the groove a and keeping it therein. So, too, the prolongation or nose provides a longer and hence firmer clamping engagement with the shank of the needle, whereby the latter is very firmly and securely connected with the needle bar.

The pins 9 and 10 act alternately upon the thread on the down and up strokes, respectively, of the needle bar, said pin 9 holding the thread from rubbing or pulling over the upper end of the needle shank on the down stroke while on the up stroke the pin 10 retains the thread in the passage 6 between the cheeks of the head and nose. The inner end of the flared hole 11 is much larger in diameter than the guide pin 10, see Fig. 4, to permit the free passage of the thread in the threading operation.

To introduce the thread between the guide pins 9 and 10the operator draws the thread into the slot 6, at the front of the head, and

then by a quick backward and circular motion of the fingers the thread is drawn upward through the inlet 12 into the hole 11, and a loop of thread is carried around the pin 10, its free end being then drawn back through the passage 12 or back into the slot 6. This operation causes the looped part of the thread to be drawn behind the pin 10 and through the inner end of the hole 11, into the slot or space 6 between the sides of the head and nose, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, in readiness to be led along the groove (4 and inserted in the needle eye. The introduction of the thread to the guide in the head is effected very quickly and easily, and when it is completed the thread is inclosed in the head 4: from the top thereof to the lower end or tip of the nose 5, and no part of the guide projects beyond the head or nose. Obviously the thread cannot then escape through the passage 12.

From the foregoing description and the drawings it will be seen that former objectionable features referred to hereinbefore are eliminated, a stronger and firmer grip upon the needle shank is effected, and the thread is guided accurately and with certainty, while the introduction of the thread to the guide is accomplished quickly and easily.

The construction of the combined needle bar and thread guide is simple, and it can be manufactured inexpensively.

Various changes or modifications in details of construction and arrangement may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention as set forth in the claims hereunto annexed.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. As an article of manufacture, a needle bar having a head and a depending nose adapted to receive the shank of a curved eye-pointed needle provided with a threadgroove in its convex side, an open, continu ous slot forming a thread passage in the head and nose in alinement with and leading to the upper end of the thread-groove, to receive and guide the thread thereto from the top of the head, and means at the upper end of and within the passage to prevent escape of the thread therefrom.

2. As an article of manufacture, a needle bar having an enlarged head and a depending nose, the head and nose being apertured and slotted to receive the shank of a curved eye-pointed needle provided with a threadgroove in its convex side, a device to compress the sides of the head and nose upon the needle shank, the slot at the front of the head and nose forming a continuous open passage to receive and guide the thread to the upper end of the groove, means at the upper end of and Within the passage to prevent the escape of the thread therefrom, and an inlet in one side of the head to permit the entrance of the thread to the passage and to the control of said means.

3. As an article of manufacture, a needle bar having an enlarged head and a depending nose, the head and nose being apertured and slotted to receive the shank of a curved eye-pointed needle provided with a threadgroove in its convex side, means to clamp the needle shank in the head and nose, the slot at the front thereof forming an open, continuous passage to receive and guide the thread to the groove in the needle, one side of the head having an outwardly flared hole provided With an open inlet, and a retaining pin fixed in the opposite side of the head and extended into the flared hole, the thread being passed through the inlet into the hole around the pin and thence behind itinto the slot, to be retained therein.

4. As an article of manufacture, a needle bar having a slotted clamping head and a depending nose also slotted, for the reception of the shank of a curved eye-pointed needle having a thread-groove in its convex side, the thread being directed between the sides of the head and nose to the upper end of the thread-groove. means crossing the upper portion of the slot in the head to control the thread and retain it in the slot, and an open lateral threading inlet to introduce the thread into the passage behind said means, the sides of the nose at the tip thereof guiding the thread at the upper end of the groove in the needle.

5. The combination with a curved eyepointed needle having a thread-groove in its convex side between the eye and the shank,

of a needle bar having a head provided With a depending nose, apertured for the reception of the needle shank, the nose extending along the needle to the thread-groove, an open, continuous passage for the thread from the top of the head to the tip of the nose, communicating with the threadgroove, and means in the head to hold the thread away from the end of the needle shank and retain it in the passage.

6. As an article of manufacture, a needle bar having an enlarged head and an extended depending nose, the head and nose being provided with an aperture extending from the nose Well into the head, to receive the shank of a curved eye pointed needle provided with a thread groove in its convex side, a slot extending through said head and nose and bisecting the same and said aperture longitudinally, a set-screw passing through said head and adapted to compress the sides thereof upon the needle shank inserted in said aperture, said slot being adapted to form a continuous open passage to receive and guide the thread to the needle, and pins extending across said slot at the back of the head to direct the thread to the needle and to prevent the escape of the thread from said slot, and a flared hole surrounding one of said points and provided with a slot leading to the back of the head whereby the thread may be easily passed into the slot in the head.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

HARLEY C. MOULTON.

Witnesses:

JOHN C. EDWARDS, FREDERICK S. GREENLEAF.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, I). C. 

